Graveside
by GSRsara4eva1623
Summary: Two major character deaths. That's really all I can say... Rated T just to be safe. one-shot


Disclaimer: I doubt anyone reads this but: these characters do not belong to me, blah, blah, blah!

A/N: Okay, so I wrote this a week or two ago, and it's just shear coincidence that my story is somewhat similar to Hope Shines Through by ELM22 (if you haven't read that story yet, you definitely should. It's really good!). I don't know where this story came from but I was unbelievably tired at 10:30 on a Friday night and I was listening to the song Slipped Away by Avril Lavigne. I guess you could say that that song inspired this. I know I'm over due for updating my other two stories, but this decided to sneak its way in, but I am putting bits and pieces together for the next chapters of my other stories. Hopefully they'll be updated this weekend. Okay, enough of this. Let's get on with the story...

***********************************************Graveside**************************************************

Sara stood among the crowded gathering of people huddled at the one gravesite in the cemetery. She placed a flower on the coffin as her tears fell onto the wood, mixing with the rain droplets. Wiping away her tears, she stepped back and out of the tightly woven circle of friends, coworkers, and people she didn't know. Brass came to her side, offering his shoulder if she needed to cry. She gently told him she wanted to be alone for a moment, and so he went back to where the team stood. She sat in one of the plastic chairs positioned under the fold-up awning. Covering her face with her hands, she forced herself to remember what had happened.

They were at a crime scene and the officer who cleared the scene hadn't done a very good job of it. Sara heard what sounded like a struggle going on in the room down the hall and, gun drawn, had gone to see what was happening.

A flash of someone dressed in black jumped through the window and her eyes immediately fell to Grissom, who lay on the carpeted floor. She collapsed next to him, and put pressure on the stab wound that was right below his heart.

The blood seeped through her fingers and spread onto the carpet. She screamed for help, and continued to apply pressure to the wound. But she was too late, his eyes started to go dull, and in a flash, he was gone. The blood oozing through her fingers caused him to slip away.

Only after watching his eyes lose the life they once contained, did she take notice of the tremendous amount of blood surrounding them. It was on the carpet, on her hands, and had soaked through the legs of her jeans. She had the sudden urge to vomit and quickly covered her mouth with her arm.

The tears glided down her cheeks as she fought the urge to become sick. She took his bloody hand in hers and pressed it to her cheek. The detective on the scene rushed into the room and immediately radioed for an ambulance.

Sara didn't let her hopes rise at the thought that they could save him, bring him back… And they couldn't.

She came back to the cemetery the next day. Surprised and slightly disappointed to find that the coffin had already been placed into the ground. She sat down on the overturned soil and placed the flower she had brought in front of the headstone.

Sara traced the letters of his name as she fought back tears. The cold granite beneath her fingertips was nothing like his warm and comforting touch. Oh how she wished to be in his embrace, instead of out in the moist, cold air, alone with only dead bodies and gravestones surrounding her.

You never realize how much you need something or someone until they're gone. And quite frankly, right now she didn't know if she would be able to go on without him. The option of being with him was trying to persuade her mind, but she couldn't do_ that_. She had to force herself to move forward, he would've wanted her to.

Sara came to his gravesite multiple times everyday, no matter what the weather or where she had to be, he came first. She needed to be close to him. And if sitting on the cold, hard, unwelcoming ground, and talking to him was that place, then so be it.

She always held a picture in her hands, staring down at his blue eyes as she talked aimlessly to him, or no one, depending on how you saw it. The picture was from a time when they had gone on a short vacation together for the weekend. A time when, months ago, she was happy… they were happy. That time seemed like another life, one so full of joy and happiness and love. Now, her life was filled with misery, loneliness, and the never ending love for him that still remained in her heart.

As she talked continuously about anything to keep her mind off the fact that she wasn't truly talking to him, sometimes, she could swear she felt his presence. She could feel him, standing over her, looking at the picture held in her hands, or the tingle of his breath on her neck. Her hand would go warm like the way it would when he held it. She would stop her talking and wordlessly cover the spot. A moment would pass and the feeling would disappear.

The team was worried about her; she was oblivious to that fact. The worried glances they cast in her direction or to each other, or the continuous invites to breakfast or lunch or dinner. She came to work late and left early whenever possible. Her sick days increased and her vacation time was used. She hadn't been herself lately. His death was hard on her and everyone knew it, even Ecklie kept his mouth shut about the difference in her "work attitude". But it had been months and no one had noticed any improvements toward her health or depression.

She spent hours at the cemetery; needing to have some connection to him other than the tears she shed everyday.

Catherine had gone to the cemetery in hopes of finding Sara there. Sure enough, she was. It was pretty easy to find her; she was the only person sitting on the muddy ground, talking to a headstone.

"Hey, Sara," Catherine said lightly as she approached. Sara started slightly but regained her composure as she continued to speak to the stone in front of her, carrying on with whatever Catherine had interrupted. Catherine squatted down next to her, placing a hand on the brunette's shoulder. Through her jacket, Catherine thought the younger woman felt bony and that worried her more. She picked up on the black circles underlining Sara's once-full-of-life-and-sparkle eyes when she turned to face her. Sara's cheeks were more hollowed out than normal and Catherine was surprised she hadn't noticed that before.

"Sara, how long have you been here?" Catherine asked gently. Sara shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Since shift ended?" she said, cautious as to Catherine's response.

"Did you go home at all? Eat? Sleep?" Catherine prodded. Sara shook her head no.

"Catherine, please leave," the younger woman pleaded, tears shining in her eyes. "I…I'll be in for shift tonight," Sara said, not enjoying Catherine's questions.

"Sara, forget work… Just go home and get some rest." Catherine wouldn't have suggested this if she knew what the result would be. Sara nodded her head, though she didn't actually plan on going home anytime soon, but decided to agree to anything that would get Catherine to leave.

Sara remained at the cemetery for several more hours. She longed to be home in bed, with the man she loved beside her, wrapped in his arms. But if she went home, she'd end up sleeping on the couch like she'd been doing for months now. Their bed just didn't feel right anymore. It was theirs…not hers.

If it hadn't been for the fact that the rain and fog began to pick up and she couldn't even see her own hand in front of her face, she would not have gone home.

She fell asleep at the wheel while driving home. Thankfully no one else was hurt. Her condition remained critical for days but had improved slowly overtime. And then, suddenly, what came as a shock to everyone, even the doctor, her heart stopped, as if she had simply given up the will to live, abandoning her life.

The team found themselves gathered in the cemetery again, with one less person than before. In almost the exact same spot, they were all together.

"She loved him, maybe it was for the best," Catherine attempted to say, her voice cracking as she spoke loud enough only for the nightshift to hear. "We saw what she was doing to herself, and we didn't do anything. If I hadn't stepped in and told her to go home, then maybe she wouldn't of… Or if I had driven her…"

"Cath," Warrick interrupted her rambling. "You're right, it was for the best. Now they're together." They all solemnly agreed.

People slowly started to trickle away. Catherine looked back at the gravesites as she and the team turned to leave. The two headstones were identical and side by side. One reading: Gilbert Grissom, the other: Sara Sidle.

The End

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A/N: I would love it if you review! Come on, push that big button and put a smile on my face! :)


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